First Impressions
by LivingInMyDreams
Summary: Another JL oneshot about how they got together. R & R plz.


**A.N.: One of the many unfinished one-shots saved on my computer that I've decided to post. More of them coming. I just want to post all the unfinished stuff before I start a chapter story. I actually really like the beginning of this one, but, I didn't have amazing ideas for the end, so it's just classic LJ. Please R&R. **

_First Impressions_

It was a famous day in Hogwarts history; the day that Lily Evans finally gave in to James Potter. It had been enough to create a standing ovation in the Great Hall, enough for Peaves to go on strike saying that too much romance was in the air, enough for Dumbledore to tear up, hell, it was enough for McGonagall to shed a few tears.

Previously mentioned, James Potter was currently sitting, cross-legged, with his back leaning into his favorite oak tree, by the lake. It was a beautiful spring's day, and the grass all across Hogwarts School was fresh and green. It was quite peaceful at the moment; he seemed to be alone on the immense grounds, which were normally extremely crowded on such a nice day.

His nose was submerged into a leather bound muggle looking book, and he was reading feverishly, his eyes scanning the lines as fast as he could manage, as if he was worried that the book would disappear into thin air without him having finished it. Every few minutes he would pause to push his glasses back up is nose or to swipe his messy jet-black hair out of his face. He was sitting in such a position that his glasses kept slipping down his nose, obstructing his vision of the small print in front of him. Although this slightly annoyed him, it did not seam to bother his very apparent good mood. He had on a very cheeky grin, and his deep hazel eyes sparkled with a joyous look.

For you, this might seem like any teenage boy on a normal day, but if you knew James Potter, than you are aware of this very rare occurrence.

Where goes James Potter, goes his three best friends, and a group of several crooning girls, giggling every time he shot them a grin, to such a point that he was never able to steal a moment to indulge in the wonderful world of literature. For one, because his best friend, Sirius Black, was so obnoxiously loud that concentrating on a good book would be, basically impossible, and two, because he was James Potter, and it would be weird for him to actually want to read, this act was reserved for Remus, his other best friend.

But today he had had a meeting with Dumbledore about his Head Boy duties, the meeting had finished early, and Dumbledore had told him, and his fellow head, Lily Evans, with what James was quite sure was a wink, that they could have the afternoon to themselves.

It was when James had stumbled down the staircase of Dumbledore's office that he had found the leather bound book he was reading at the moment. His nose had literally fallen right on top of it. He cursed himself for making a fool of himself in front of Lily again, who had spent a good five minutes giggling hysterically after he had fallen.

James Potter was very good at making a fool of him self in front of Lily, he got so nervous when she came around that he always managed to do something stupid. In his first six years at Hogwarts, he had taken to hexing unsuspecting victims to impress her, and he had probably asked her out a total of three thousand times, to which she always responded with a flat no.

Lily Evans was a complete mystery to him, he had done everything and anything possible to get her to date him, he had wasted so many roses on her, so many boxes of Honeydukes chocolate, yet she still remained adamant.

Any other girl would have said yes on his first try, in fact most girls had taken to asking him out, and it was pretty obvious why. James Potter was drop dead gorgeous.

But Lily Evans would rather date the giant squid. She said so herself.

So James was left to simply thinking about her, just about, all the time. Often he would completely forget about the people surrounding him, and just go in to Evans mode, thinking, contemplating her features in his mind, this often led to Sirius teasing him to no avail…

This year, James had completely given up on Lily. He hadn't asked her out once. It was mid-April, and he had basically ceased all the things that used to be on his getting Lily's attention list. In fact, the only time he talked to her was to do head duties. All this in order to forget about her and make getting over her lusciously gorgeous red hair a lot easier.

And just as James thought about her hair, Lily's characteristic red curls came into view. '_Wow, she is so beautiful…'_

And in fact, she was, her red brown hair fell in loose large shiny thick curls perfectly on her back and shoulders, and her green emerald eyes could be seen from miles away, sparkling. She had a tall, lean and curvy figure, so that her hips swayed slightly when she walked. All of this added to the fact that she was so full of life, so… He couldn't quit put his finger on it.

James wasn't the only guy to notice her particular 'gifts', but as I said, it was a known fact that James Potter had dibs on Lily, and so much as a wolf whistle in her direction, and you would end in the hospital wing severely hexed or supporting a black eye with a permanent sticking charm on it.

What James loved the most about her, was that she didn't even now how blindingly beautiful she was, she was so innocent with her hips moving back and forth, and her perfect full lips. He had seen her this morning looking in the mirror in their head's common room, tilting her head back and forth, playing with her hair. He saw the uncertain look in her eyes; it was as if he could have read her mind. He wanted so badly, for her to see herself trough his eyes, so that she could instantly remove all the doubt from her mind.

"Hey James," she stood in front of him, blocking the sunlight.

James lifted his nose from his book, and tried to pretend as if Lily had interrupted him, and he hadn't already noticed her coming his way.

"Hey Lily"

She curiously raised an eyebrow at his book, "What you reading?"

"Just some muggle book Dumbledore leant to me, it's called Pride and Prejudice, and it's quite good actually. Don't think I could compare it to Shakespeare or Dickens though. Do you read muggle stories?" He questioned, genuinely interested in Lily's interests.

If Lily was all surprised that James new who Charles Dickens was, let alone Shakespeare, she didn't let it on. She had gotten rather good at hiding her feelings from James. You see, no matter how much it seemed that Lily despised James, it was quite the opposite. She was actually quite infatuated by him, or she had been since last June. She supposed she had liked him for longer than that, but June was when she finally admitted it to herself.

She had contemplated saying yes to his propositions come September, but seventh year came, and he hadn't asked her out once. She assumed he had gotten over her, so she just spent her time trying to get over him. It didn't work very well, so she had just gotten better and better at acting.

"Of course I read muggle stories. I love Jane Austen, I think she's fantastic, don't know how you can think any of Dickens work is better than Pride and Prejudice, it's a masterpiece."

Lily sat down cross-legged next to James and started playing with the grass bellow her, hiding her eyes, the one part of her body she couldn't completely control.

"It's a personal opinion, I suppose."

Lily smiled, he was actually being decent to her, and they were talking about something other than head duties for once.

"I had no idea you read so much Potter, it's actually quite surprising."

"Theirs a lot you don't know about me Lily," He equally ducked his head, to stare at the green grass which only reminded him of the startling shade of her eyes. She chose not to answer him, not knowing what to say to that.

"You know, it quite reminds me of us, this book," he momentarily forgot his resolve to get over Lily.

"How would you say that?" She wondered if he was saying what she really thought he was saying.

"Well this Darcy fellow, he's kind of misunderstood by the women he loves, she thinks he's a conceited prat," He spoke with his eyes glued to the floor, as if the piece of grass in between his fingers was particularly interesting.

"Well you haven't read the rest of the book, have you?" She muttered under her breath, she didn't catch James subtle reference to Lily thinking he was a prat, and thus meaning he still loved her.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I said, you haven't read the rest of the book," she spoke louder, scared he would read between the lines and understand she fancied him.

He didn't realize, "No, your right, I haven't. I suppose they end up getting married, a little unrealistic, in real life, the girl would hate him forever."

Lily was a bit shocked by his assumption, "Why would you say that?"

"Well as I said before. The book reminds me of you and I. Maybe in the end Elizabeth realizes Mr. Darcy is a good person, but I doubt you'll ever realize that I'm a good person."

Lily again, was shocked, she finally lifted her head up, to stare at his raven colored head, James was acting as if she still called him a toe-rag on a regular basis, throwing a bit of her caution to the wind, she confessed, "I know you're a good person."

At this James revealed his hazel eyes, which locked with hers, he didn't say anything, surprised at her revelation.

So she spoke again, "In fact, I always knew you were a good person, you were just a bit immature, and you teased me so much, I had to defend myself."

Silence rang threw the fields, as James gathered up his courage, scared to be rejected, yet he knew he would regret it if he didn't tell her how he felt properly.

"I teased you because I wanted to get your attention, Lily. I was immature; I didn't know how to get you to notice me without making a fool out of myself. You were so perfect, and intelligent, and I was so intimidated, if I asked you out seriously, then I would have had to admit that I really liked you, and than if you said no, I wouldn't be able to hide my hurt behind jokes anymore Lily. I was protecting myself, I still am. But I can't stick around for you much longer Lily; I'm wasting my time. And if you don't want to be with me, I'm going to have to eventually settle for the second best-"

He would have continued if not for the solid object that had just collided with him, and the soft lips that had cut off his mouth. Lily Evans lips found his, and she kissed him with everything she had in her. He accidentally fell backwards, and she landed on top of him, her hands pulling his face to hers. He was so shocked that he didn't move, he just lay there as she kissed him, lips still.

She mistook that for him not wanting her to kiss him, and she pulled away. She got up and muttered, "Sorry," as she ran for it, the tears claiming her cheeks.

Thoughts tore through her brain. How could she have been so stupid, how could she have misinterpreted his words so badly, what had she done? Her feet carried her past the front doors, and into the castle, finding a place to hide, letting the sobs claim her body.

Meanwhile, James had finally pulled himself out of his reverie to run after her, but he was too late. He arrived at an intersection between two hallways and had no idea where to go. He cursed himself for not having the Marauder's map and slowly dragged his feet to his dorm room to wallow and contemplate the recent happenings.

--

Lily was seated in the Great Hall, between her two best friends, Marlene and Dorcas, her face tucked away, inches from her plate, with cheeks that showed evidence of tears. She had told her friends what happened, and they had proceeded to comfort her as best they could, shocked that James would do something like that. Obviously Lily had recounted the story in her point of view, so it seemed as if James had done something absolutely horrid.

James entered alone, searching the hall for Lily's red hair, he needed to find out what that kiss had been all about. He spotted the blotch of red tied up into a bun in between Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes, as per usual.

"Lily," he came up behind her to speak, "Can I please talk to you for a moment?"

She didn't turn around, instead Dorcas stood up, her features etched with hatred, "Sod off Potter, before I threaten your future children's existence."

James face returned the hate, "This is none of your business, Meadowes, I need to speak to Lily."

Dorcas flipped her long blonde hair behind her shoulder, as her eyes sparkled with contempt, she raised her voice to get her point across.

"It became my business Potter, when you made my best friend cry."

At this, the heads started to turn, whispers taking over the hall, curious to find out what was happening, to be the first ones to alert the gossip chain.

"Stop being such a bitch Dorcas, I just want to talk to her," he whispered, trying to make sure the whole Great Hall didn't meddle.

"Look who's talking you arrogant piece of shit, toying with her feelings like that, what is your problem?!" She shrieked, causing all the heads that weren't already looking to turn to their conversation as she pushed James with her hands, attempting to get him away from Lily.

At this James didn't care who heard, Dorcas was getting in the way of him and Lily, "Look who's talking, you should know about toying with people feelings Meadowes, stomping on Sirius' heart like you did!"

"Oh, Puuh-lease, Sirius Black does not have a heart. He's slept with every female in Hogwarts that has grown breasts!" Her voice was mocking causing James to go on the defensive for his best friend.

"I'll have you know that Sirius happens to have more of a heart than you ever will! He finally committed himself to someone, and let his guard down, and all you did was laugh in his face!"

They were so wrapped up in their own little shouting match that they hadn't noticed the subjects of their conversations appearing, Lily behind Dorcas, and Sirius behind James. He clapped his hand on James' shoulder, and tried to joke, although the hurt in his voice was evident.

"Prongs', think you could stop shouting about my private affairs in front of the whole great hall?"

James apologized, as he turned to face Sirius, frustration on his face and in his voice, "Sorry Padfoot, just got a little carried away. Just wanted to speak to Lily, and Meadowes has a stick up her ass."

Sirius winced at James' reference to the blonde, his dark locks of hair hiding his pained eyes, "Watch how you talk about Dorcas will you?"

"Sorry," he forgot about how sensitive Sirius was…

They both turned again to face the girls. Lily's face was still red from tears, Dorcas' from rage.

James asked again, with his eyes locked to the floor in shame from making Lily cry, "Lily, could I please talk to you… alone?"

Lily gathered up her courage and tried to steady her voice, "You made it quite clear before Potter that you wanted nothing to do with me. So if you have an ounce of kindness in you body, please spare me the embarrassment of revealing to the whole school that you rejected me. I don't need your pity, I'm a big girl."

His voice filled with a different frustration then before, "That's the thing Lily! I don't want nothing to do with you! What would you do if the girl you were absolutely crazy about kissed you after six years of trying to get her to notice you?" At this, whispers broke out everywhere; they couldn't believe she had kissed him. James and Lily were hardcore Hogwarts gossip, everyone was interested, hell, they had bets running on when she would give in.

"Well, I would probably kiss _him _back, or go after _him_ when he ran away, but that's just common courtesy, you know, so that _he_ wouldn't feel like shit for six hours," Her voice stopped shaking, as it regained the normal sarcasm of James-Lily conversations.

"Oh, don't go all Lily-ish on me! You know what I mean! And I did go after you, but you were hiding!"

She was a little outraged that he would raise his voice at her, he was the one who had done something wrong, "Lily-ish? What the hell is that supposed to mean Potter? Cause right now, you are being very Potter-_ish_. Meaning an arrogant, conceited, full-of-himself, asswipe, prat, git, prick and, and, and- YOUR JUST PLAIN MEAN!"

He didn't say anything. He couldn't believe they were back to this. Her calling him names, him trying in vain to get her to listen to reason. It's like they took a huge back step, and he had just been trying to tell her that he still love her. He just stood their, watching her catching her breath from screaming so much. The entire Hall was quiet, even the staff was paying attention.

He approached her, and she took a step back, her eyes glistening slightly.

"What are you doing?"

He took another step forward, and this time, he took her the sides of her face in his hands, and pulled her towards him. She crashed into him, and he just looked into her eyes sweetly, before descending his lip on hers. He couldn't find the right words, so he showed her with his lips, and she got the message, she understood he still love her and he understood she had loved him all along. Her lips felt amazing, she felt amazing, he couldn't believe she was finally his. Twenty-four hours ago he had been sulking in his room, complaining about how she would never love him.

His hands found the small of her back, and hers wrapped around his neck, and he lifted her off her feet to kiss her deeper, his arms wrapped tightly around her back, pulling her as close to him as possible, as the kiss slowly turned more heated. There was nothing in the world other than him at that very moment. All she could think about was how good it felt to have him so close, or the way her hands pulled at his hair as she kissed him; not even the fact that they were standing in front of a little more than two hundred people distracted her. She had wanted him for so long she couldn't really believe it was finally happening. She swore at herself for having waited so long, for having pushed him away. But that didn't matter any more; all that mattered was that they were here, now, together.

The Great Hall was still silent, they were all watching so intently that you could hear a pin drop. When they finally separated for air. He simply leaned his forehead against hers, and they stood still, feeling the rise and fall of each other's chests.

He whispered, "I love you."

And she said a little louder, "I love you too."

And as I said in the beginning, the Great Hall broke out in applause. Marlene stood up, and the rest of the Gryffindor table followed. Then Dumbledore stood, causing a chain reaction for the rest of the teachers, then Ravenclaw, and Hupplepuff, and a few of the members of Slytherin, mostly because they were fed up of the fights between Head Boy and Girl. It really was a touching moment, I should know; I was there.


End file.
